Mitsubishi Plant Looks Like Its Gooone

[Johnny G]

Yep.....

MITSUBISHI'S Australian assembly operations in Adelaide will close by the end of March, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) state secretary John Camillo says.

Mr Camillo said Mitsubishi Australia president Rob McEniry told workers at the Tonsley Park plant of the decision at a meeting today.

About 1000 workers will lose their jobs, with the company pledging to pay out all their redundancy and leave entitlements.

The workers have been told to take the rest of the week off on full pay and return to work again on Monday.

Mitsubishi has also pledged to provide counselling for workers.

"Rob McEniry spoke to the workers, it was very emotional,'' Mr Camillo said.

"He indicated that one hour ago Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in Japan made the announcement to close the Tonsley Park operation.''

[Dagabond]

Yet another company killed by bean counters.

[Flukey]

  revheadrobbo said:

There is no reason why we cant send them overseas. Mitsu Japan I think have made it quite hard for Mitsu Aust to survive

There is that, as well designing cars

[harvyk]

  Dagabond said:

Yet another company killed by bean counters.

Sort of, but this time I don't think it was truly the bean counters fault (although the cut backs on the design for financial reasons of the 380 didn't help).

The 380 which was meant to be the car to save mitsu in au, was never really a good car. They started off with a good idea, but it was poorly executed (cutting back on things to help differentiate the car so it wasn't just another clone was not a good idea). The end result was something that didn't know what it wanted to be. It was never really in the running against the Late model camira or Falcon, and with the Aurion been launched shortly afterwards it left the 380 as a large car when the world is going green.

As a car to drive it was never anything special (I had the privilege of driving one for a week last year in Darwin) where it was nice, and certainly had a decent interior, but certainly nothing that would make me want to place down 30K.

It was bad timing on behalf of mitsu to literally place all their eggs in one basket. It was an even worse move by their former CEO to leave as the 380 was launched. If the company truly needed a strong CEO with a belief in the company that was the time. It was no secret that the 380 was meant to be the company saviour.

But this is my 2c.

Here's hoping the ex mitsu guys and gals get new employment quickly...

[SubJimbo]

Just saw that its definatly closing on the news, I hope the 1000+ people affected get new jobs soon =[

[ms700]

Its just not Mitsu workers who will be hurt by all this, it has a massive follow on.

Like Monroe who supply struts, ROH who do the wheels etc, they wont have as much demand anymore, so they too will probably have to lay some workers off too.

And yes it will be interesting to see what happens with all of the 380 spare parts. As far as im aware, manufacturers have to supply spares for 7 years.

[tmac450]

Not really. In Australia the same suppliers supply for Ford, Expensive Daewoo and Toyota as well.

The low volumes from Mitsubishi will be a very small part of their business, and they will retain the majority of it anyway. If you're a 380 buyer, that means you have one less car to choose from, meaning that the majority of the sales and manufacturing volume should be absorbed by the remaining 3 manufacturers, this will mean fewer delivery points for the suppliers, again helping to offset any losses. Mitsubishi's total market share for all cars sold in Australia last year was just over 1%.

[Shock_Xr6]

p&a will still be around for some time parts need to be around for at least 10 years. Mitsubishi has also said that all current private owners of 380's will have there warranty taken out to 6 years. and if you are wondering how I know this its because I work for them.

[harvyk]

  Shock_Xr6 said:

p&a will still be around for some time parts need to be around for at least 10 years. Mitsubishi has also said that all current private owners of 380's will have there warranty taken out to 6 years. and if you are wondering how I know this its because I work for them.

didn't mitsu offer 10year warranties??? or was that only for a limited time of which there is only 6 years left???

[Evil F6]

If Orion fails, then Ford will be next to go, and given how poor the sales of VE are things aren't looking great. Orion will still a massive car, will probbaly be heavier and maybe only be a poofteenth more economical.

Ford and Expensive Daewoo have only survived all these years on fleet sales, accounting for close to 80% of their slaes. With this market rapidly dwindling for many reasons and the fact people juts don't want large, heavy thirsty cars in general Orion will be only delay the inevitable. The Mondeo is not the answer either also being a fat bastard at over 1600kg. In fact the Mondeo is the size and weight the new Falcon should have been and is around 200kg heavier than Mazda 6 and Honda Accord. The new Mazda 6 will be bigger than the old 6, yet weigh less.